THERE are just days left before a controversial new waste collection scheme aimed at forcing households to recycle begins across Vale Royal.

More than 1,000 objections were made to Vale Royal Borough Council from people living in Northwich and Winsford after it unveiled its Kerbside Recycling Scheme, which includes plans to collect general household rubbish on a fortnightly basis, instead of weekly.

But the borough council says it has received an equal number of letters in support of the new scheme, which will revolutionise the way rubbish is collected and dumped.

It says the scheme, which will be launched next month, is being introduced in response to new Government guidelines which mean the borough must recycle four times more waste than it does at present.

The Government has warned that any county authority failing to meet the new recycling targets will be fined more than £100,000 per day, and if Vale Royal residents don't do their bit, they will end up paying the bill through hikes in Council Tax.

The Kerbside Recycling Scheme is aimed at encouraging residents to re-cycle more by getting them to think about the type of waste they are currently binning. On alternate weeks, refuse collectors will pick up recyclable materials including garden waste, newspapers and bottles. Ordinary nonrecyclable rubbish will be picked up the following week.

Residents are to be given a green box, which is to be used for glass bottles and jars, aerosols, food and drink cans and old clothes.

A bag will be provided for newspapers, magazines and junk mail.

A green bin will be used to dump all other domestic waste that cannot be recycled or composted, while a brown bin is to be provided for garden waste like grass cuttings, leaves and twigs.

Residents have been asked to rinse bottles and tins before they are put out for recycling.

Cllr Malcolm Gaskill, Vale Royal's lead councillor for waste, said: 'In three years the Government has told us we have got to increase the amount we recycle by four times that which we are doing at the moment. And taking part in this Kerbside Recycling Scheme will go a long way towards that.

'If we don't reach that target we will be hit by a massive fine from the Government. If we don't meet those targets we will be fined £120,000 per day in Cheshire. We will have to pay our fair share of that and it would mean Council Tax would certainly go up.

'We have got an awful lot of work to do by then.

'There is little or no money coming out of the Council Tax to fund this scheme, but money from recycling will fund a good chunk of this scheme.'